Are you racist (noun, verb, or adjective)

"Positive relationships have been called the key ingredient for all of positive psychology" (Martin Seligman, 2011), and I add, the key to the well-being of any collection of people. True story: One drunken St. Andrews mid-Saturday evening, I was with two 'out-of-town guys. They said, "Let's go in town to the wharf and beat the shit out of some tourists!" I went along and watched in horror as one tourist couple was chased, and fists were flung at them. Luckily the male tourist was far more able than my two x-friends had anticipated. This is discrimination to outsiders, by an outsider. Racism is a specific kind of discrimination. We have, in increasing complexity, thoughts - beliefs - attitudes - behavior (action). Discrimination is acting out of thoughts - beliefs - attitudes. All of these can evoke related feelings. We get smart enough to use the most complex, the attitudes and behaviors, in childhood. Children quickly learn to form attitudes and do behavior/action. Posting on social media is a behavior; it is an action. If you post racist/sexist things, indeed you are, racist/sexist. Prejudice is a biological step back from behavior, it is an attitude. Discrimination is a behavior, and racism is a slice of discriminatory behavior. Discrimination comes in many forms: race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, obesity, age, and immigrants. If we hold such attitudes,they can lead to the more devastating behaviors, with specific names such as racism, sexism or ageism. "Am I , Chris Kohler, a racist?" This is a good question. Answer: Yes, because I once was such a harmful, unjust thing. Once a smoker, always a smoker, once a murderer, always a murderer. Later in life, I chose to disbelieve racist attitudes that I had absorbed in my childhood, teens, and twenties. I was raised in a community drenched in racism and other isms. St. Andrews is probably not different than most Canada communities. Through osmosis and being young and dumb (uninformed/misinformed), and unable to oppose my peers, I became that nasty whiteman thing, using all the key words like injun, chink, nigger, packey, and frog. It took many years removed, to break that chain of destructive thoughts -->beliefs-->attitudes-->behaviors. Speaking is a behavior/action. My actions didn't go far past bad discriminatory talk, thankfully. I did some bullying incidents those days, and they fit the bill. My comments were, psychologically damaging action, thus I was, a racist. Am I now a racist, well, I'll leave that up to you to decide. Racism is not always illegal; it is only illegal if it breaks registered laws, such as a racist that does physical damage, like killing Mr. Floyd, or pounding on tourists at the end of the wharf on a Saturday night. But it is the responsibility of members of a community to step up and protect its livelihood from damage by selfish proponents of such self-righteous beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, especially the legal behaviors, because in theory, police are paid to handle the rest. I believe, and my attitude is that we need to call-it-on-the-spot (act), such as saying, "You are being racist right now {or other 'ist'}," or "What you just did was racist {or other 'ist'}}." People can clean up and change, and people need this chance become humble. A community such as St. Andrews has many families who benefit highly by a collective respect for outside visitors and spending, and towns/cities need the creative thinking that new members to society would bring. Newcomers should be safeguarded to a community's fellowship; if they want to call it home, the town gains a reciprocal flourishing. And they should not be told to delete their previous identity. Due diligence of community members means they/we/i need to step up and speak out when we see discriminatory behavior. I have changed. I will call people on their isms, as I expect to be called on mine. I want St. Andrews to flourish, not to have visitors slighted with smoke-veiled racist jokes and macroaggressions. I don't want St. Andrews to be an English whitey-only town. How about discrimination against those from outside St. Andrews, say, Ontarians, Quebecers, Florencevillers, St. Georgers, Mainers, Boacabecers, and on it can go. Global meme: "You came here from there because you didn’t like there, and now you want to change here to be like there. We are not racist, phobic or anti whatever-you-are, we simply like here the way it is and most of us actually came here because it is not like there, wherever there was. You are welcome here, but please stop trying to make here like there. If you want here to be like there you should not have left there to come here, and you are invited to leave here and go back there at your earliest convenience." The above global meme is a case example. It needs context to determine whether is it aimed at race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, obesity, age, immigrants, or just out-of-towners. What does this statement even mean? "We simply like here the way it is..." Who is this 'we'? Thank you very much I'll speak for myself as to whether I want to open a German or Chinese restaurant. What about the 'British' Royal Society of New Zealand that filled the country with animals and plants that don't belong there, just so they could feel at home; I spent two years to discover that this veiled oppressive attitude still exists in New Zealand. Now we have a global catastrophe, COVID-19. People quickly slide to negative thoughts - beliefs - attitudes - behaviors, during times of crisis {and the trump hangover will last for years}. Expect to see more, soon, and therefore please anticipate increasing your vigilance. These attitudes are terribly disloyal to community well-being; we see the monumental violence and damage trump did to USA and the world. Back to the pre-behavior items above, thoughts-->beliefs-->attitudes. The sad news is, all of you will have at least some racist thoughts, beliefs, and to a lesser extent, attitudes. Don't believe me? Take the test: https://www.projectimplicit.net/nosek/iat/ . The key is, what behaviors will you do? None? Good. We need to constantly work to suppress such thoughts and beliefs, it's an evolutionary hangover. Should discriminatory people be allowed on a town council? Sure, if elected. Yet indeed they should be called/challenged if they use isms. Virtuous leadership be bestowed upon honorable 'calling out' of such community damaging behavior; the guilty ones can pat their petty beliefs at home. Did anyone watch the movie with Woody Harrelson, "The People vs. Larry Flynt"?